Many people rate Thanksgiving as their favorite holiday of the year. We assume that it gets the nod over Christmas because of the many competitions available at HorseTourneys on Turkey Day—including our $15,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray.
It’s a 10-race event with an entry fee of $195 and no cap on what the purse can reach…though it won’t be less than $15,000. Contest races for this special holiday test are the 5th through 8th at Woodbine (where they celebrated Thanksgiving a month ago), races 5, 7 and 8 from Del Mar and the 6th through 8th at Golden Gate.
Also on the Thanksgving Day table is a Flo-Cal Faceoff qualifier. It’s a 1-per-15 Pick & Pray with an entry fee of $118.
Another great thing about Thanksgiving—it’s not all about a single day…because the leftovers are terrific. Such is also the case on Thanksgiving weekend at HorseTourneys.
It may be Black Friday to some, but to people in the know, it’s Green Friday thanks to our $15,000 Guaranteed Pick & Pray, which also serves as Friday’s HT Tour event.
Alternatively—or in addition—you could go shopping for a $1,500 Flo-Cal Faceoff entry on Friday. (Flo-Cal stores will remain open here on Saturday and Sunday as well.) Friday’s participants will crowd the aisles in a $118 Pick & Pray with a 1-per-15 winning ratio. Winners move on to the $250,000 Guaranteed, all-cash tournament here on January 15-16.
Quite often you’ll see holiday movies debut over Thanksgiving weekend. At HorseTourneys, we’ll be premiering our qualifiers to the Bally’s NHC First Chance/Last Chance tournament on Friday. The curtain raises on the Las Vegas contest on NHC Eve, Thursday, January 27th. Those who succeed in Friday’s $59, 1-per-10 Pick & Pray receive a $500 entry for the day before the big day on the Vegas Strip.
One thing you can always count on come the Friday after Thanksgiving—besides staring at Aunt Clara’s uneaten mince pie in the fridge—is a $75 NHC qualifier at HorsePlayers.
It’s a Pick & Pray with two NHC spots guaranteed and a winning ratio of 1-per-143. Remember—you must be a 2021 NHC Tour member, prior to the start of the contest, in order to be eligible for an NHC package in this or any other NHC qualifier. If you’re not a member, you can become one quickly and easily at NTRA.com for a $50 membership fee.
Contest races for Friday are expected to be the 5th, 7th, 8th and 9th from Tampa Bay Downs; the 7th through 10th from Aqueduct; and races 7 and 8 from Laurel—10 races in all.
Of course, Thanksgiving weekend can also be a bit challenging if you overindulge. So it is here as well! On Saturday, the menu item that will be in extra large supply is NHC Low Ratio qualifiers.
Not only is there one over at HorsePlayers (to go along with a $179 BCBC qualifier)…
…there’s also one being served here at HorseTourneys.
There HAVE been a couple of slightly different ingredients baked into the two offerings. While both are Live-format, $500 battles with a winning ratio of 1-per-21, note that the game at HorseTourneys is open to all consumers while only those who have yet to earn a 2022 berth will be invited to the table at HorsePlayers.
There are always plenty of Flo-Cal Faceoff qualifiers to go around here at HorseTourneys, and on Saturday we’ll offer another $118 Flo-Cal Pick & Pray. And another $59 Bally’s NHC First Chance/Last Chance Pick & Pray too.
The weekend’s richest tourney is Saturday’s $30,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray, which is the day’s HT Tour event. An entry fee of $350 gets you a ticket into this one.
There’s also the Saturday Big Bucks tourney, which,is always run as a Pick & Pray. It’s an “up-to-$20,000” affair with a purse guarantee of $10,000. Entries—at $1,150 each—are limited to 20 (unless we get a late arrival or two from last-minute Saturday feeders…in which case the pot will exceed $20,000). Payouts go just to the top three finishers with the winner collecting 70 percent of the net pool, the runner up getting 20 percent, and the third-place finisher picking up the remaining 10 percent.
Moving to the Saturday schedule this week is the qualifier to the Tampa Bay Downs “First Chance/Last Opportunity” tournament offering cash and NHC seats on January 8th. An added enhancement (we think) is that it will be presented onsite in Oldsmar, Fla., by HorseTourneys. It costs just $80 to compete in this 1-per-20 qualifier, and winners pick up a $1,000 entry for Tampa Bay Downs in early January.
Also moving to Saturday is our qualifier to the Santa Anita Opening Day Challenge, which can be played on-track or at Xpressbet. It will take place on the traditional opening date of the Santa Anita meet—December 26th. One of every 15 entrants who put up the $118 entry fee will pull in a $1,500 seat to the day-after-Christmas contest.
No Saturday is complete, of course, without a $15 Jackpot Pick 4 tourney. It’s a Pick & Pray, and the carryover amount will be $1,419. In our Pick 4 Jackpot games, going four-for-four means you win or share the Jackpot. (You don’t have to be the only winner.) Meanwhile, 70% of the daily net pool gets paid out to players via the traditional $2.00 win/place scoring system. The other 30% goes to the Jackpot pool. Entries in these Jackpot Pick 4 tourneys are limited to three per person.
Thanksgiving weekend wraps up with seven more featured events on Sunday.
Pick & Pray qualifiers are again on tap for the Flo-Cal Faceoff ($118 entry fee) and the Bally’s NHC First Chance/Last Chance tournament ($59).
Sunday’s HT Tour event is our $20,000 Guaranteed, No Limit Pick & Pray. Entries cost $195 each.
The Sunday Big Bucks tourney is always run in Live format. It’s an up-to-$20,000 skirmish with $7,500 Guaranteed and an entry fee of $1,150. Entries are limited to 20, and payouts again go only to the top three finishers.
Another $15 Pick 4 Jackpot tourney is also on the Sunday agenda. The Jackpot amount will depend on how many played in the Saturday Pick 4 Jackpot tourney—and whether anyone hit it. Check our website or our Twitter feed starting on Saturday night for updates.
The Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge and the NHC share the spotlight to itself on Sunday at HorsePlayers.
The BCBC play-in is a $500, Low Ratio Pick & Pray with one $10,000 seat certain to be awarded regardless of participation. Should more than 22 enter, the winning ratio will be 1-per-23.
The NHC qualifier is also a Pick & Pray. It’s a “regular,” $165 tourney with 2 seats guaranteed and a winning ratio of 1-per-65.
In parting, we want to wish good luck to all the HorseTourneys qualifiers who will be representing us this weekend at Hawthorne and at the Del Mar Fall Challenge.
Most importantly, however, we want to wish a Happy Thanksgiving—and safe travels—to you and your loved ones. We at HorseTourneys are thankful for many things…but we are especially thankful for you.